Is this the hardest season ever to be a Canucks fan?

[CanuckFan1123]

I’ve been watching the Canucks and rooting for the Canucks since I was a young boy growing up in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Despite living a short 25 minutes from an arena that hosted the likes of Gretzky, Robataille, Blake, McSorley, and so many other big names and great players, my passion for the Canucks has always been strong. I’ve always been an outcast wherever I’ve lived. I’ve never once known what it’s like to love my hometown team. But those who know me well know I love my Canucks and always have and always will. The Canucks have always been a crucial part of my life. 
 

Having been through some 30 years of Canucks hockey now as an adult living in 2023, I’ve seen Many ups and many downs. I’ve watched the team rebuild on multiple occasions and end up drafting incredible players like the Sedins, Pettersson, and Hughes, and of course my all time favorite and definitely most elite player, Jannik Hansen (jokes about the elite part but god I love that man). I’ve watched the team come close to holding up the Stanley Cup. I feel like I had been through it all except for one thing. I’ve never seen my team hoist the Stanley Cup. That’s what I thought was the only thing missing. Until this season.  
 

As a fan, I’ve had many disappointing times. But I’ve understood and accepted them all. The rebuilds are a part of hockey and it’s inevitable that it’s going to happen. Every team has a window to win. The down years are always tough but I always know it’s for the greater good of the organization. But this year is different. This year hurts. And in 30 years, I don’t remember anything like this. 
 

Going into this season, I knew our defense was a question mark. But I felt great about our offense and our goalie situation. Watching this team rebound last year after Boudreau was hired, I had a huge sense of optimism and excitement for this season. I felt strongly that at worst we were a wild card team but felt like we could do big things this year. The first real test of my excitement came in game one of the season when the Canucks blew a 3-0 lead in the 2nd and ended up losing. Ok, Rocky start but 81 games left. So much can happen. Game 2 got off to a glorious 2-0 lead and my optimism peaked. Until we found ourselves losing yet again. Suddenly we’re 7 games in and not a single win and I no longer feel so good. We start fighting back slowly and eventually get to a reasonable record through a little over 30 games. 
 

I think about 8-9 games ago, I really felt like maybe finally this team can get a good push and start fighting again. Well, as we know, after the loss to Florida today, we are now 1-7 in our last 8. I can say with all confidence that I no longer feel good about this season. While I love the potential of Bedard, I have never found myself a part of “team tank” this season. Even now, with under half a season to go, I still feel a small glimmer of hope for like a 15 game win streak. But I know it’s not realistic. 
 

Anyway, the point of this thread is that as a fan, I feel lost. I feel like I’m watching a team with no direction. I don’t feel good about management. I no longer feel good about our coach. Outside of a short list of players, I don’t really feel good about our roster even. Everyone seems to be lacking heart and enthusiasm both on the ice and in interviews. I just hate it. This is truly the first time in my life I can say this. During the rebuilds there was always a direction. During the fringe years, there was always hope and optimism. During the playoffs years, there has always been a reason to hope and cheer and have fun. Right now, I have trouble watching games. I find myself disinterested and unexcited. I’ve never felt this as a fan before. I love this team but the passion is dwindling. I don’t want another rebuild. I don’t want to watch this team start over. I want the team to find a solution. Right now, I feel that there has never been a lower time for this fan base and organization. Am I wrong? 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

7 minutes ago, CanuckFan1123 said:

Even now, with under half a season to go, I still feel a small glimmer of hope for like a 15 game win streak.

Good luck with that. Canucks' longest win streak of the season is three games.

[Devron]

Embrace the tank my friend. It’s the only way.

 

 

[van_ws]

Fan since the 1994 cup final run. In the almost 30 years as a fan, this has been one of the toughest seasons by far. I don't see too much hope or to look forward to right now.

[Nuxfanabroad]

It's our turn for love of the hockeyGawds. Need some lotto-fortune

[Strawbone]

Been watching the Canucks for 44 years. I haven't watched every game, but I've watched most games that have been on TV. This is the the most disappointing season of all time for me. This team has too much talent to be playing such piss poor hockey, and is just bleeding goals. It's frustrating and almost inexplicable. I know we don't have the world's greatest defencemen, but that's no excuse to be giving up 4 or 5 goals every single night. I've seen way worse rosters than this buckle down and give up fewer goals than we do night after night.

 

I've always looked forward to Canucks games, and I still do... but barely. I have no problem turning the game off or missing a period here and there or even an entire game to do something better with my time. Change has got to come.

[goalie13]

39 minutes ago, CanuckFan1123 said:

Right now, I feel that there has never been a lower time for this fan base and organization. Am I wrong? 

I am going to go with yes, in my opinion, you are wrong.  Although not by much.

 

I feel like the lowest time was the Messier / Keenan era.  That team was stacked.  They were led by players such as Bure, Messier, Mogilny, Naslund, Lumme and Ohlund.  That should have been a contending team.  Instead it all imploded.

 

So I feel like that era was worse than now, but only because the expectations were so much higher.

[24K PureCool]

The losing doesn't even get to me. They need to lose at this point.

 

It is the constant drama and nepotism from this management and them digging a larger hole that is making me furious.

 

This is JR in a nutshell

[CanuckFan1123]

10 minutes ago, goalie13 said:

I am going to go with yes, in my opinion, you are wrong.  Although not by much.

 

I feel like the lowest time was the Messier / Keenan era.  That team was stacked.  They were led by players such as Bure, Messier, Mogilny, Naslund, Lumme and Ohlund.  That should have been a contending team.  Instead it all imploded.

 

So I feel like that era was worse than now, but only because the expectations were so much higher.

I do agree that era was tough as well. I think right now as a fan is tougher though and I think a big thing that plays into it is how much all the drama and everything is advertised because of things like social media for instance that we didn’t have back in that era. I think a major difference is the constant rumors and the things like interviews that we see a little more constantly because all of it is at our fingertips. I think there’s a lot of similarities between then and now but it’s definitely easier to hear about the shenanigans now on a daily basis, which makes it more difficult to cope with. 

[wai_lai416]

Every year is harder than the last as a Canucks fan. Either you have hopes and they come crashing down or they go in the playoffs and flame out. Until they win a cup it’s always hard 

[Barnstorm]

52 years an avid fan. 
Faded out during mid 80’s and the Messier black cloud days. 

For me , this is undoubtedly the worst time in this franchises history.  
In this day and age everything is scrutinized and quickly exposed for all to see how they fail on almost every level. Inside stories, negative stats till the cows  come home, social media aiding the spread. The closet door is open wide for all to see just how dysfunctional things really are. 
Combine all that with the high hopes generated by young stars/media and my own limited time I never felt so disheartened about the Vancouver Canucks. 
Probably be easier if the team was moved which would better enable me to forget them altogether. There may be hope however right now I don’t see it. It’s sad to see your childhood hero’s reduced to this. 

[MNaslund??]

9 minutes ago, Barnstorm said:

52 years an avid fan. 
Faded out during mid 80’s and the Messier black cloud days. 

For me , this is undoubtedly the worst time in this franchises history.  
In this day and age everything is scrutinized and quickly exposed for all to see how they fail on almost every level. Inside stories, negative stats till the cows  come home, social media aiding the spread. The closet door is open wide for all to see just how dysfunctional things really are. 
Combine all that with the high hopes generated by young stars/media and my own limited time I never felt so disheartened about the Vancouver Canucks. 
Probably be easier if the team was moved which would better enable me to forget them altogether. There may be hope however right now I don’t see it. It’s sad to see your childhood hero’s reduced to this. 

Yeah, I know I’ve actually said this a couple times this year but I for real need a mental break from this team.  Like somehow management and Canucks drama is somehow “my problem” and it causes me a little stress tbh.  Hockey should be something you enjoy, and if you aren’t at the moment, i think fans taking a break from the Canucks is needed.

[Nave]

30 minutes ago, Barnstorm said:

52 years an avid fan. 
Faded out during mid 80’s and the Messier black cloud days. 

For me , this is undoubtedly the worst time in this franchises history.  
In this day and age everything is scrutinized and quickly exposed for all to see how they fail on almost every level. Inside stories, negative stats till the cows  come home, social media aiding the spread. The closet door is open wide for all to see just how dysfunctional things really are. 
Combine all that with the high hopes generated by young stars/media and my own limited time I never felt so disheartened about the Vancouver Canucks. 
Probably be easier if the team was moved which would better enable me to forget them altogether. There may be hope however right now I don’t see it. It’s sad to see your childhood hero’s reduced to this. 

Saying the team should be moved is a little extreme. I'm a Canucks fan through thick and thin. Not saying you haven't been--52 years is a long time, and I haven't been even been alive that long--but still.

[Dazzle]

I've been watching this team since the early 90s. I'm aware that this team was virtually unwatchable in the 80s though. I've seen the ups and downs.

 

This is a pretty bad time for the team, but I am looking forward to tanking so we can look to the future.

 

We really have to point the finger squarely at Gillis. The playoff contending years mixed in with dreadful draft picks and development during this time period have crippled us for the future.

 

His time may have been 8-10 years ago, but had he drafted some players besides Hodgson and Horvat (both were high 1st rounders), we'd have some useful depth. He absolutely mucked up all the other picks in the later rounds. That's a lot of failed picks. We could have saved a ton of UFA money or avoided trades if we had depth.

[Hogs & Podz]

2 hours ago, Strawbone said:

Been watching the Canucks for 44 years. I haven't watched every game, but I've watched most games that have been on TV. This is the the most disappointing season of all time for me. This team has too much talent to be playing such piss poor hockey, and is just bleeding goals. It's frustrating and almost inexplicable. I know we don't have the world's greatest defencemen, but that's no excuse to be giving up 4 or 5 goals every single night. I've seen way worse rosters than this buckle down and give up fewer goals than we do night after night.

 

I've always looked forward to Canucks games, and I still do... but barely. I have no problem turning the game off or missing a period here and there or even an entire game to do something better with my time. Change has got to come.

Remember the year we had Bure, Mogilny, Linden, and Messier?... I think it was 96-97?  We were supposed to destroy the league and win da cup!!!!!  Most disappointing season in my memory. 

 

This year... A close second.  At least we have some great young players.  Back then all we had was a young Naslund, whom hadn't broken out yet. 

 

Maybe we might finally fully rebuild.  I knew in order for this team to compete this year, they'd have to have had Demko playing in top form.  

[RU SERIOUS]

3 hours ago, van_ws said:

Fan since the 1994 cup final run. In the almost 30 years as a fan, this has been one of the toughest seasons by far. I don't see too much hope or to look forward to right now.

Yep, Only halfway thru the season and its all Over for us.    This means we'll have to wait another year and a half to maybe make the playoffs again.    

[RU SERIOUS]

2 hours ago, wai_lai416 said:

Every year is harder than the last as a Canucks fan. Either you have hopes and they come crashing down or they go in the playoffs and flame out. Until they win a cup it’s always hard 

So glad i dumped my ST's.  should have done it years ago.    

[CanuckFan1123]

10 hours ago, Barnstorm said:

52 years an avid fan. 
Faded out during mid 80’s and the Messier black cloud days. 

For me , this is undoubtedly the worst time in this franchises history.  
In this day and age everything is scrutinized and quickly exposed for all to see how they fail on almost every level. Inside stories, negative stats till the cows  come home, social media aiding the spread. The closet door is open wide for all to see just how dysfunctional things really are. 
Combine all that with the high hopes generated by young stars/media and my own limited time I never felt so disheartened about the Vancouver Canucks. 
Probably be easier if the team was moved which would better enable me to forget them altogether. There may be hope however right now I don’t see it. It’s sad to see your childhood hero’s reduced to this. 

I think this comment definitely says a lot. You’ve been through it all as a fan. Like I said in an above comment, the social media aspect of today’s generation makes it easier to see the constant media coverage and scrutiny surrounding everything and I think that plays a massive role into the every day struggles of current fanhood. We can talk about the bad years from 30 or 40 years back but they were never put under the same scope because the constant day to start media aspect of everything didn’t exist or was very limited. The media kind of is a big reason this team has been ruined besides the general poor play. 

[MeanSeanBean]

In my lifetime, definitely. Can't vouch for the 80s.

[awalk]

For me, not really. Halfway through the season and I don't care if we lose. Actually better if we lose and tank. Somewhat easier than having hope.